Arcs:Juareq Arc
The Juareq Arc was a story arc written and coordinated by Tyler. The arc centered around the Juareq species/faction as they brought the Bulred to Namine.
Synopsis
A strange, sentient, Human-like creature appears from a portal onto Namine. Disoriented, the creature is taken into a hospital and analyzed. The creature, who calls himself Zeck, reveals himself to be a member of the Juareq--a powerful species with strong telepathic and healing abilities. The disoriented Zeck seeks out the highest authority of the Waspcaela Empire: Vespid Heterodonyx. Upon finding him, Zeck demands an explanation to a certain problem he has: Joseph had been hacking into Juareq systems. Annoyed, Vespid summons Joseph and promises to take Zeck to his homeworld so Joseph can be held accountable. On the way there, Zeck barrages Vespid with an onslaught of questions and complaints, further driving him over the edge. Once Vespid, Joseph, and Zeck arrive at the Juareq homeworld, Zeck leads the pair down to the surface. Vespid and Joseph go on to meet Luka--leader of the private Juareq corporation from which Zeck hails. Joseph and Luka begin to work things out, after which Luka turns his attention to an already-disgruntled Vespid. Luka begins questioning Vespid over what he perceives to be menial, irrelevant things--Waspcaela culture, Namine, etc. Vespid does nothing but vocalize his disdain with the entirety of the situation, resulting in Luka rashly threatening to declare war. Vespid, completely disillusioned by the Juareq as a whole, bans the Juareq from Waspcaela Empire airspace and simply gets up to leave, much to Luka and Zeck’s dismay.
Vespid and Joseph return to Namine. Things remain uneventful until the Juareq, against Vespid’s direct commands, approach Namine. They claim to have unfinished business with Joseph. Thegalet attempts to force the Juareq to stage their meeting with Joseph elsewhere, but they decline and dock with the Surrendry in orbit around Namine. Vespid chooses not to attack, as that would jeopardize Joseph’s safety. Midway through the meeting, the Surrendry is shot down by an unknown assailant. The Surrendry crash-lands in the mountains outside of New Thutria, prompting Vespid and company to rush to the site.
Once they arrive, the group finds that Joseph has managed to survive the crash, along with the Juareq. Before any one person can come to a conclusion as to the events that had just transpired, an organism emerged from the enemy ship. Before being killed by our heroes, it shot Joseph with a powerful mind-afflicting weapon, putting him into a coma. Luka takes to opportunity to explain the worst fears of the Juareq have come true; their enemy, the Bulred, have re-surfaced.
Enraged by the facts that Namine was now in the crosshairs of the Bulred and one of his best friends was in a coma, Vespid confronts Luka, demanding to know why he defied a direct order to stay away from Waspcaela Empire assets. Luka’s answer does not satisfy Vespid; despite this, the Waspcaela Empire resolves to form a frail and temporary alliance with the Juareq in order to drive the Bulred back from Namine.
But before an attack on the Bulred can be staged, the group elects to pull Joseph out of his coma. Tartirus alerts the group to an experimental technology located on the Surrendry that can, miraculously, allow an organism to enter a conceptualized representation of the psyche of another. While unconventional, the group opts to attempt to use this technology to bring Joseph out of his coma.
Once the group enters Joseph’s mind, they find that Joseph’s personality has been separated into multiple pieces. After multiple long and arduous battles to locate these pieces, the group succeeds in rejoining them, thereby awakening Joseph.
Shortly after Joseph woke from his coma, yet another unidentified craft appears over Namine. Being chased by a pirate vessel, it stirs the Waspcaela Empire and its allies--who send a transmission to the ship only to discover that it is run by a faction of refugee Vasacar--a species of large reptilian creatures. These refugees, the Vasacar Retaliation Force, were on the run from their homeplanet’s government. After getting into several small scuffles with the Waspcaela Empire, Vespid realizes that he can use the Vasacar Retaliation Force to his advantage in the Juareq struggle. Vespid contacts their leader, Vito Tal’erth, and offers him a deal: safe harbor on Namine in return for defense of Waspcaela Empire assets. Vito agrees, and the Vasacar Retaliation Force sets up a base in New Skopida. With extra firepower on their side, the Waspcaela Empire prepares to track down the Bulred.
Before they can seek out the Bulred, though, yet another vessel arrives on Namine: a Bulred ship. The ship crash-lands--the pilot survives and is retrieved by the Waspcaela Empire for questioning. The Juareq advise the Waspcaela that Bulred derive their aggression from magnetic fields; the pilot would be more agreeable in a radiation-proofed bunker.
The pilot is moved to the bunker, where he suddenly becomes non-hostile--friendly, even--revealing his name to be “Trinant.” Trinant is rather co-operative, aiding the Waspcaela Empire by giving them the locations of all Bulred planets for future reference. Trinant mentions that the Juareq corrupted his people into aggressiveness with an infectious virus. Upon learning this, Thegalet hatches a plan to obtain a culture of the virus and modify it to reverse the effects of the original virus. Trinant and Vespid express approval over this plan, and Thegalet requests Zeck to retrieve a virus sample. He reluctantly agrees, and Thegalet (along with a team of Waspcaela Empire scientists) gets to work on the cure.
While the cure is developed, Namine is attacked by the Bulred. The Waspcaela Empire manages to defend their homeworld, although the battle was brutal and warranted many casualties.
Thegalet’s team has a breakthrough post-battle; tests of the modified virus prove successful, so Thegalet works with Cyonyx to weaponize the virus.
After curing Trinant with an isolated dose of the virus, the Waspcaela Empire outfitted a strike team with the weaponized virus and struck the Bulred planets--curing all known Bulred.
Returning home victorious, Vespid demanded that the Juareq leave Namine and never return. They comply, ending the Juareq arc.